Nakou, Irene. “Children’s Historical Thinking within a Museum Environment: An Overall Picture of a Longitudinal Study.” (2001)

Historical thinking is at the heart of the current debate about history, history teaching and learning in relation to working with sources. This is also important within the museum setting. The author describes a longitudinal field study conducted with 141 students relating to work with museum objects over a three-year period. There were six primary research questions that guided the research on historical thinking and children in museums. The research was conducted with students who had not been taught historical thinking to observe how it evolved in students who were educated through a traditional approach. The author discusses the educational environment of museums, the history of museums, the use of museum objects and how historical thinking fits within this framework. She continues with a discussion of the research methods, data analysis and findings and discussions of the results. She discusses the general characteristics of historical thinking that were found in each age group and historical thinking and age in relation to museum objects. She proposes three claims, supported by the research study, about children’s historical thinking in a museum: historical thinking is related to age; by age 13/14, historical thinking seems to be stabilized; and children’s historical thinking is associated with educational and museological conditions in addition to age. The author concludes with discussion on historical thinking and museological variables (3 conclusions), historical thinking and educational variables (3 conclusions), historical thinking and age and individual differences, and the significance for history education and museum education.